I haven't said enough about how much I love this new job at the liberry. It is sublime bliss. I go there and shove books around and talk to people and match people up with books and vice versa, and it is so sooooooothing, just being around all those 10,000 books and all those almost as many book-people, knowing I really never have to buy another book as long as I work there, because all the books there are, are MINE, and because I am "Staff," I can check them out for as long as I want with no fines. And all the CDs and videos and books on tape and books on cassette, too, because I work in the second-best liberry in all of California.
But best of all is Rachel, the five-year-old who asked me last week what my favorite "aminal" is. She and her mama were there again today, Thursday, when I clocked in at 1PM. They'd been there since Story Time at 10. "Hello, Girls!" I hollered when I spotted them in the children's section.
"Hello, Nice Lady!" Rachel called back. Her mama, Katrina, and I exchanged fond glances.
"Do you need any help with your hard work?" Rachel asked me.
"Oh yes I do," I replied. "Could you find all the litle chairs that fit under these tables and bring them back, please?" Oh yes she could, and she did. And while she did, she offered, "My mama likes Ideas!" And I replied, "That's because she's a teacher, Honey. Teachers like Ideas more than they like Things.
"Now could you find the shelf marked with this letter [K] and put this book there?" We did this a few times while her mama beamed. And at the exact moment I was about done with fixing up the messes Rachel made while getting it right, her mama told her, "Honey, it's time for us to go now. Let's give the nice lady a hug to wish her Happy Christmas, OK?" Mama demonstrated by gathering me up and touching cheeks, and then Rachel--even taller than she was a week ago--I am 5'9" and her mama is at least 6'--flung herself at me and squeezed hard for a long time.
What could be better than this? My imagination fails.
Let's all say YU-HOO for the new job! (AND - another nice story, by the way.)
Posted by: Tom Montag | December 24, 2004 at 03:03 AM